The Kitáb-i-Íqán: a broad outline by the beloved Guardian

Within a compass of two hundred pages it [the Kitáb-i-Íqán]

• proclaims unequivocally the existence and oneness of a personal God, unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all Revelation, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and almighty;
• asserts the relativity of religious truth and the continuity of Divine Revelation;
• affirms the unity of the Prophets, the universality of their Message, the identity of their fundamental teachings, the sanctity of their scriptures, and the twofold character of their stations;
• denounces the blindness and perversity of the divines and doctors of every age;
• cites and elucidates the allegorical passages of the New Testament, the abstruse verses of the Qur’án, and the cryptic Muhammadan traditions which have bred those age-long misunderstandings, doubts and animosities that have sundered and kept apart the followers of the world’s leading religious systems;
• enumerates the essential prerequisites for the attainment by every true seeker of the object of his quest;
• demonstrates the validity, the sublimity and significance of the Báb’s Revelation;
• acclaims the heroism and detachment of His disciples;
• foreshadows, and prophesies the world-wide triumph of the Revelation promised to the people of the Bayán;
• upholds the purity and innocence of the Virgin Mary;
• glorifies the Imáms of the Faith of Muhammad;
• celebrates the martyrdom, and lauds the spiritual sovereignty, of the Imám Husayn;
• unfolds the meaning of such symbolic terms as “Return,” “Resurrection,” “Seal of the Prophets” and “Day of Judgment”;
• adumbrates and distinguishes between the three stages of Divine Revelation; and
• expatiates, in glowing terms, upon the glories and wonders of the “City of God,” renewed, at fixed intervals, by the dispensation of Providence, for the guidance, the benefit and salvation of all mankind.

Well may it be claimed that of all the books revealed by the Author of the Bahá’í Revelation, this Book alone, by sweeping away the age-long barriers that have so insurmountably separated the great religions of the world, has laid down a broad and unassailable foundation for the complete and permanent reconciliation of their followers. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

The Kitáb-i-Íqán : - “occupies a position unequalled by any work in the entire range of Bahá’í literature, except the Kitáb-i-Aqdas”

A model of Persian prose, of a style at once original, chaste and vigorous, and remarkably lucid, both cogent in argument and matchless in its irresistible eloquence, this Book, setting forth in outline the Grand Redemptive Scheme of God, occupies a position unequalled by any work in the entire range of Bahá’í literature, except the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Bahá’u’lláh’s Most Holy Book. Revealed on the eve of the declaration of His Mission, it proffered to mankind the “Choice Sealed Wine,” whose seal is of “musk,” and broke the “seals” of the “Book” referred to by Daniel, and disclosed the meaning of the “words” destined to remain “closed up” till the “time of the end.” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

1862: The revelation of “the Kitáb-i-Íqán (Book of Certitude), revealed within the space of two days and two nights” – a “fulfillment of the prophecy of the Báb, …to complete the text of the unfinished Persian Bayán”

Foremost among the priceless treasures cast forth from the billowing ocean of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation ranks the Kitáb-i-Íqán (Book of Certitude), revealed within the space of two days and two nights, in the closing years of that period (1278 A.H.–1862 A.D.). It was written in fulfillment of the prophecy of the Báb, Who had specifically stated that the Promised One would complete the text of the unfinished Persian Bayán, and in reply to the questions addressed to Bahá’u’lláh by the as yet unconverted maternal uncle of the Báb, Hájí Mírzá Siyyid Muhammad, while on a visit, with his brother, Hájí Mírzá Hasan-‘Alí, to Karbilá. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

A believer who witnessed the verses of God revealed by both the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh

A certain Muhammad Karím, a native of Shíráz, who had been a witness to the rapidity and the manner in which the Báb had penned the verses with which He was inspired, has left the following testimony to posterity, after attaining, during those days, the presence of Bahá’u’lláh, and beholding with his own eyes what he himself had considered to be the only proof of the mission of the Promised One: “I bear witness that the verses revealed by Bahá’u’lláh were superior, in the rapidity with which they were penned, in the ease with which they flowed, in their lucidity, their profundity and sweetness to those which I, myself saw pour from the pen of the Báb when in His presence. Had Bahá’u’lláh no other claim to greatness, this were sufficient, in the eyes of the world and its people, that He produced such verses as have streamed this day from His pen.” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

Baghdád 1856-1863: ”hundreds of thousands of verses, mostly written by His [Bahá’u’lláh] own hand, were obliterated and cast into the river.”

As to those verses which He either dictated or wrote Himself, their number was no less remarkable than either the wealth of material they contained, or the diversity of subjects to which they referred. A vast, and indeed the greater, proportion of these writings were, alas, lost irretrievably to posterity. No less an authority than Mírzá Áqá Ján, Bahá’u’lláh’s amanuensis, affirms, as reported by Nabíl, that by the express order of Bahá’u’lláh, hundreds of thousands of verses, mostly written by His own hand, were obliterated and cast into the river. “Finding me reluctant to execute His orders,” Mírzá Áqá Ján has related to Nabíl, “Bahá’u’lláh would reassure me saying: ‘None is to be found at this time worthy to hear these melodies.’ … Not once, or twice, but innumerable times, was I commanded to repeat this act.” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

Baghdád 1856-1858: - the “unrecorded verses…in a single day and night”: - “the equivalent of the Qur’án!”

So prolific was this period, that during the first two years after His return from His retirement, according to the testimony of Nabíl, who was at that time living in Baghdád, the unrecorded verses that streamed from His lips averaged, in a single day and night, the equivalent of the Qur’án! 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

Baghdád 1856-1863: The “scope and volume of Bahá’u’lláh’s writings, after His return from Sulaymáníyyih”

 The enormous expansion in the scope and volume of Bahá’u’lláh’s writings, after His return from Sulaymáníyyih, is yet another distinguishing feature of the period under review. The verses that streamed during those years from His pen, described as “a copious rain” by Himself, whether in the form of

• epistles,
• exhortations,
• commentaries,
• apologies,
• dissertations,
• prophecies,
• prayers, odes or specific Tablets, contributed,
• to a marked degree, to the reformation and progressive unfoldment of the Bábí community,
• to the broadening of its outlook,
• to the expansion of its activities and
• to the enlightenment of the minds of its members.

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

Bahá’u’lláh’s “life was characterized by…austerity, and… simplicity”

His [Bahá’u’lláh’s] own life was characterized by that same austerity, and evinced that same simplicity which marked the lives of His beloved companions. “There was a time in ‘Iráq,” He Himself affirms, in one of His Tablets, “when the Ancient Beauty … had no change of linen. The one shirt He possessed would be washed, dried and worn again.” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

Bahá’u’lláh’s comments about Nabil's empty room

“I, myself with two others,” he [Nabil] relates, “lived in a room which was devoid of furniture. Bahá’u’lláh entered it one day, and, looking about Him, remarked: ‘Its emptiness pleases Me. In My estimation it is preferable to many a spacious palace, inasmuch as the beloved of God are occupied in it with the remembrance of the Incomparable Friend, with hearts that are wholly emptied of the dross of this world.’” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

The “stirring episodes” of those who were “intoxicated“ by quaffing “from the cup of Bahá’u’lláh’s presence” – Nabil being “an eye-witness

“So intoxicated were those who had quaffed from the cup of Bahá’u’lláh’s presence,” is yet another testimony from the pen of Nabíl, who was himself an eye-witness of most of these stirring episodes, “that in their eyes the palaces of kings appeared more ephemeral than a spider’s web.… The celebrations and festivities that were theirs were such as the kings of the earth had never dreamt of.” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

The story of Siyyid Ismá‘íl, surnamed Dhabíh (the Sacrifice) – “King and Beloved of Martyrs”, “No blood…has, till now, been poured upon the earth as pure as the blood he shed.”

From such a treasury of precious memories it will suffice my purpose to cite but a single instance, that of one of His ardent lovers, a native of Zavárih, Siyyid Ismá‘íl by name, surnamed Dhabíḥ (the Sacrifice), formerly a noted divine, taciturn, meditative and wholly severed from every earthly tie, whose self-appointed task, on which he prided himself, was to sweep the approaches of the house in which Bahá’u’lláh was dwelling. Unwinding his green turban, the ensign of his holy lineage, from his head, he would, at the hour of dawn, gather up, with infinite patience, the rubble which the footsteps of his Beloved had trodden, would blow the dust from the crannies of the wall adjacent to the door of that house, would collect the sweepings in the folds of his own cloak, and, scorning to cast his burden for the feet of others to tread upon, would carry it as far as the banks of the river and throw it into its waters. Unable, at length, to contain the ocean of love that surged within his soul, he, after having denied himself for forty days both sleep and sustenance, and rendering for the last time the service so dear to his heart, betook himself, one day, to the banks of the river, on the road to Káẓimayn, performed his ablutions, lay down on his back, with his face turned towards Baghdád, severed his throat with a razor, laid the razor upon his breast, and expired. (1275 A.H.)

1853-1863: Various people’s interactions with Bahá’u’lláh during those “poignant years” in Baghdad

Numerous and striking are the anecdotes which have been recounted by those whom duty, accident, or inclination had, in the course of these poignant years, brought into direct contact with Bahá’u’lláh.

• Many and moving are the testimonies of bystanders who were privileged to gaze on His countenance, observe His gait, or overhear His remarks, as He moved through the lanes and streets of the city, or paced the banks of the river;
• of the worshippers who watched Him pray in their mosques;
• of the mendicant, the sick, the aged, and the unfortunate whom He succored, healed, supported and comforted;
• of the visitors, from the haughtiest prince to the meanest beggar, who crossed His threshold and sat at His feet;
• of the merchant, the artisan, and the shopkeeper who waited upon Him and supplied His daily needs;
• of His devotees who had perceived the signs of His hidden glory;
• of His adversaries who were confounded or disarmed by the power of His utterance and the warmth of His love;
• of the priests and laymen, the noble and learned, who besought Him with the intention of either challenging His authority, or testing His knowledge, or investigating His claims, or confessing their shortcomings, or declaring their conversion to the Cause He had espoused. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

Happenings during “that immortal period, intervening between the birth hour of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation and its announcement on the eve of His departure from ‘Iráq”

• The joyous feasts which these companions, despite their extremely modest earnings, continually offered in honor of their Beloved;
• the gatherings, lasting far into the night, in which they loudly celebrated, with prayers, poetry and song, the praises of the Báb, of Quddús and of Bahá’u’lláh;
• the fasts they observed; the vigils they kept; the dreams and visions which fired their souls, and which they recounted to each other with feelings of unbounded enthusiasm;
• the eagerness with which those who served Bahá’u’lláh performed His errands, waited upon His needs, and carried heavy skins of water for His ablutions and other domestic purposes;
• the acts of imprudence which, in moments of rapture, they occasionally committed;
• the expressions of wonder and admiration which their words and acts evoked in a populace that had seldom witnessed such demonstrations of religious transport and personal devotion—

these, and many others, will forever remain associated with the history of that immortal period, intervening between the birth hour of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation and its announcement on the eve of His departure from ‘Iráq. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

Another Persian prince “describing the atmosphere which pervaded that reception-room” in Bahá’u’lláh’s House in Baghdad

“I know not how to explain it,” another prince, Zaynu’l-‘Ábidín Khán, the Fakhru’d-Dawlih, describing the atmosphere which pervaded that reception-room, had affirmed, “were all the sorrows of the world to be crowded into my heart they would, I feel, all vanish, when in the presence of Bahá’u’lláh. It is as if I had entered Paradise itself.” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

A Persian prince expressed a desire to build “a duplicate of it [in his home in Kázimayn”, and Bahá’u’lláh’s reported remarks

It was this same reception room [of Bahá’u’lláh] which, in spite of its rude simplicity, had so charmed the Shujá‘u’d-Dawlih that he had expressed to his fellow-princes his intention of building a duplicate of it in his home in Káẓimayn. “He may well succeed,” Bahá’u’lláh is reported to have smilingly remarked when apprized of this intention, “in reproducing outwardly the exact counterpart of this low-roofed room made of mud and straw with its diminutive garden. What of his ability to open onto it the spiritual doors leading to the hidden worlds of God?” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

The “Most Great House”: - the “dilapidated”, “Low-roofed” room “, “set apart for the reception of Bahá’u’lláh’s visitors”; “a single couch, fashioned from the branches of palms”: - “vied…with the Most Exalted Paradise”

“The room of the Most Great House,” that same chronicler [Nabil] has recorded, “set apart for the reception of Bahá’u’lláh’s visitors, though dilapidated, and having long since outgrown its usefulness, vied, through having been trodden by the blessed footsteps of the Well Beloved, with the Most Exalted Paradise. Low-roofed, it yet seemed to reach to the stars, and though it boasted but a single couch, fashioned from the branches of palms, whereon He Who is the King of Names was wont to sit, it drew to itself, even as a loadstone, the hearts of the princes.” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

The incredible “burning devotion” that Bahá’u’lláh’s “love had kindled” in the “souls” of “His companions”

The complete transformation which the written and spoken word of Bahá’u’lláh had effected in the outlook and character of His companions was equalled by the burning devotion which His love had kindled in their souls. A passionate zeal and fervor, that rivalled the enthusiasm that had glowed so fiercely in the breasts of the Báb’s disciples in their moments of greatest exaltation, had now seized the hearts of the exiles of Baghdád and galvanized their entire beings. “So inebriated,” Nabíl, describing the fecundity of this tremendously dynamic spiritual revival, has written, “so carried away was every one by the sweet savors of the Morn of Divine Revelation that, methinks, out of every thorn sprang forth heaps of blossoms, and every seed yielded innumerable harvests.” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

The amazing way in which “most of those who surrounded Bahá’u’lláh” in Baghdád decided to help each other to maintain strict spiritual discipline

“Most of those who surrounded Bahá’u’lláh,” wrote Nabíl, describing the spirit that animated the reformed Bábí community in Baghdád, “exercised such care in sanctifying and purifying their souls, that they would suffer no word to cross their lips that might not conform to the will of God, nor would they take a single step that might be contrary to His good-pleasure.” “Each one,” he relates, “had entered into a pact with one of his fellow-disciples, in which they agreed to admonish one another, and, if necessary, chastise one another with a number of blows on the soles of the feet, proportioning the number of strokes to the gravity of the offense against the lofty standards they had sworn to observe.” Describing the fervor of their zeal, he states that “not until the offender had suffered the punishment he had solicited, would he consent to either eat or drink.” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

An example of how Bahá’u’lláh stressed “His strong condemnation of all acts of violence”

In another connection He, wishing to stress His strong condemnation of all acts of violence, had written: “It would be more acceptable in My sight for a person to harm one of My own sons or relatives rather than inflict injury upon any soul.” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)

Perpetrating “an act contrary to the interests of either the state or religion” – Bahá’u’lláh gives an example to a government official in Baghdad

“This brother of Mine,” He further declared to that official, “this Mírzá Músá, who is from the same mother and father as Myself, and who from his earliest childhood has kept Me company, should he perpetrate an act contrary to the interests of either the state or religion, and his guilt be established in your sight, I would be pleased and appreciate your action were you to bind his hands and cast him into the river to drown, and refuse to consider the intercession of any one on his behalf.” 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’, chapter 8)